Critically-acclaimed international Brentano String Quartet to perform at Thiel College

Posted October 13, 2014Communications and Marketing Department

GREENVILLE, Pa.—Thiel College's Con Spirito Chamber Music Concert Series will feature the internationally recognized and critically-acclaimed Brentano Quartet at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 23 at the campus’s David Johnson Memorial Chapel.

In July, the Brentano Quartet succeeded the Tokyo Quartet as Artists in Residence at Yale University, departing from their 14 year residency at Princeton University. The Quartet also currently serves as the collaborative ensemble for the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition. The Quartet has performed in the world’s most prestigious venues, including Carnegie Hall and Alice Tully Hall in New York; the Library of Congress in Washington; the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam; the Konzerthaus in Vienna; Suntory Hall in Tokyo; and the Sydney Opera House. The Quartet had its first European tour in 1997, and was honored in the U.K. with the Royal Philharmonic Award for Most Outstanding Debut.

The Brentano Quartet is known for especially imaginative projects combining old and new music, such as “Fragments: Connecting Past and Present” and “Bach Perspectives.” Among the Quartet’s latest collaborations with contemporary composers is a new work by Steven Mackey, “One Red Rose,” commemorating the 50th anniversary of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy on November 22, 1963. Other recent commissions include a piano quintet by Vijay Iyer, a work by Eric Moe (with Christine Brandes, soprano), and a new viola quintet by Felipe Lara (performed with violist Hsin-Yun Huang). In 2012, the Quartet provided the central music (Beethoven Opus 131) for the independent film A Late Quartet.

Thiel College’s Con Spirito Chamber Music Concert Series, which began in fall 2007, presents concerts each year, featuring top chamber music performers from around the world.

The series was created in honor of the late daughter of Dr. Glen Johnson H'88, Thiel College Board of Trustees chairman emeritus, and his wife, LaVonne, generous friends of the college. The home of the Con Spirito Chamber Music Concert Series is the David Johnson Memorial Chapel, dedicated in 2006 and named in honor of the Johnsons' late son.

Since its inception in 1992, the Brentano String Quartet has appeared throughout the world to popular and critical acclaim. “Passionate, uninhibited and spellbinding,” raves the London Independent; the New York Times extols its “luxuriously warm sound [and] yearning lyricism.”

For more information about the concert, please contact the Thiel College Office of Special Events at 724-589-2240 or visit the Con Spirito Concert Series website.


About Thiel College

Thiel College is an independent college founded in the Lutheran tradition. Located in Greenville, Pa., the College offers 60 majors and minors, 24 varsity sports, and an 11:1 student-faculty ratio. The College is also home to a new Master of Science in speech-language pathology and 2Master of Business Administration. Both master’s degree programs offer innovative and accelerated five-year paths which allow students to earn a bachelor’s and master’s degree in five years. The speech-language pathology program also has an accelerated 15-month graduate-level program. The M.B.A. program also has a 12-month post-graduate program.A dedicated faculty paired with dynamic research and internship opportunities produce numerous graduate school and job placements. Coeducational from its beginnings, the College remains committed to combining tradition with innovation as it celebrates 150 years.



Thiel College
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Greenville, PA 16125
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